BEARS vs. MARLIES: The HERSHEY BEARS continue a stretch of three games in three days today in Canada against the Toronto Marlies. The two teams meet for the final time in the regular season. Toronto is the top AHL developmental affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

ALL-TIME: The two teams will play their 13th all-time regular-season contest tonight. The BEARS are 7-4-2 against the Marlies.

THE LAST TIME: The BEARS and Marlies last met at GIANT Center on November 25, a game which the BEARS ran up a 4-0 score and hung on to win by a count of 4-2. Former Toronto forward Alex Berry got the BEARS on the board, scoring his first goal with HERSHEY 10:48 into the game. Former BEARS center Zach Hamill then struck for his sixth of the year to give the BEARS a 2-0 lead at the first intermission. Marlies goaltender Mark Owuya then allowed second-period goals by Cameron Schilling and Jon DiSalvatore less than one minute apart. Former BEARS star Keith Aucoin then set up Matt Frattin’s fifth of the season halfway through regulation, breaking up Braden Holtby’s shutout bid. Aucoin also helped Mark Fraser pick up his second of the season later in the third period. Holtby stopped a personal season-high 40 shots in earning the victory. The BEARS were 1-for-4 on the power play and perfect on four penalty kills.

2012-13 SEASON SERIES:

Sun. November 25, 2012

TORONTO

GIANT Center

4-2 W

Sat. February 16, 2013

@Toronto

Ricoh Coliseum

RECENT RECAPS: The BEARS picked up a point in their seventh consecutive game last night in Hamilton, but at the same time dropped their second consecutive shootout and third in the last seven games in a 3-2 decision against the Bulldogs. Stefan Chaput got the hosts on the board with his fourth goal of the season, swatting in the rebound of Zack Stortini’s shot and beating Philipp Grubauer. Stortini would then fight Kevin Marshall and also pick up an additional roughing minor, handing the BEARS their first power play of the game. In the advantage’s final seconds, Ryan Stoa chipped home the rebound of a shot from Peter LeBlanc to tie the game. Stoa struck again on the other BEARS power play chance late in the period, whirling around and stuffing a LeBlanc rebound past Robert Mayer. Garrett Stafford assisted on both goals as well. But early in the third period, the Bulldogs picked up their third power play of the game and finally solved the BEARS penalty kill, which was perfect on 16 consecutive kills. Louis Leblanc beat two BEARS to the rebound of Mike Blunden’s chance in front, a chance that was stopped by a sprawling Grubauer. Mayer, who fought the puck all night, managed 34 saves on 36 HERSHEY shots through 65 minutes of play, then got the stop he needed in the bottom of the fifth shootout round to protect a 3-2 win. Gabriel Dumont, Leblanc and Chaput all scored in the shootout, one more than the goals scored by Stafford and Ryan Potulny.

The Marlies also suffered their last defeat at the hands of the Bulldogs, a 3-2 loss on Tuesday at Copps Coliseum. In a game marred by penalties, Toronto grabbed leads of 1-0 and 2-1, only to see the leads vanish and Hamilton take over with 2:46 left to play. Will Acton struck first for the Marlies and Joe Colborne added a goal in the second period. Chaput and Blunden picked up the Bulldogs’ equalizers before Nathan Beaulieu put up the Bulldogs’ second power play goal of the night. Joey Tenute assisted on all three Hamilton goals, and Mayer made 23 saves in the win. Jussi Rynnas was tagged with the loss in the Toronto net.

EAST DIVISION STANDINGS (as of February 16):

POS

TEAM

GP

W

L

OTL

SOL

PTS

WIN%

GF

GA

1.

Binghamton

48

29

14

1

4

63

.656

146

118

2.

Syracuse

48

28

14

2

4

62

.646

167

135

3.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

49

25

21

2

1

53

.541

116

115

4.

HERSHEY

49

23

19

3

4

53

.541

124

120

5.

Norfolk

48

21

24

2

1

45

.469

116

139

O.T. COMPENSATION?: Goaltender Dany Sabourin has made five consecutive starts that required more than 60 minutes to complete. His colleague, Philipp Grubauer, has also logged an excess of minutes as four of his eight starts this season went beyond regulation.

DOUBLE DOWN: C Ryan Stoa scored two power play goals last night against Hamilton, marking back-to-back games in which the BEARS have had a player light the lamp twice.

IT’S BEEN A WHILE: D Garrett Stafford picked up assists on both of Stoa’s goals, giving him his first points since December 15 against Worcester – a span of 13 games.

WELCOME HOME: BEARS center and Hamilton native Peter LeBlanc also chipped in with assists on both of Stoa’s goals last night.

PK MORE THAN OK: The BEARS have allowed just two power play goals in February. In six games, the penalty kill is 21-for-23 (91.3%), and after starting the year ranked 27th, the BEARS now rank ninth overall (84.8%).

KINGS OF TIGHT GAMES: Now with seven consecutive one-goal games played, the BEARS have the second-highest total (29) of one-goal games in the AHL. The team has a record of 12-10-3-4 in such games. Only the Houston Aeros (30) have played more.

GOOD STARTS: The BEARS have allowed the second-fewest goals in first periods this season (31).

900 CLUB: Captain Boyd Kane, who played in the 1,000th game of all the top professional leagues on January 8 at Bridgeport (ECHL-71, AHL-898, NHL-31), became the 13th player in history to appear in 900 AHL games on January 12 against Connecticut. Ironically, Kane played his first AHL game on November 20, 1998 as a member of the Hartford Wolf Pack, the team that became the Whale after the 2009-2010 season. In BEARS history, Kane ranks 36th in all-time games played (338). Former BEARS left winger Les Duff ranks 12th in all-time AHL games played.

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